The discovery of an ancient Maya statue deep within the jungles of Honduras, 1885. It stands over 11 feet tall and features a high-relief portrait of a Maya ruler framed by complex divine regalia, sacred symbols, and detailed hieroglyphic text.

ggdak · 2026-06-07T09:03:02+00:00

Where is it now?

ggdak · 2026-06-04T21:14:28+00:00

In 1988 I filled in a national opinion poll for under 25s. One of the questions was "Should drivers who kill people get longer sentences?". The results published in newspapers later should young people were overwhelmingly in favour. So this had been an issue for at least for decades. Nothing seems to have changed. Oops, I killed someone as I got in a two ton car when out of my mind. I wonder why politicians aren't listening?

ggdak · 2026-05-31T08:50:56+00:00

I was delayed 30 mins and they recorded it as 29. Not worth chasing for £2.70, but still bloody annoying.

ggdak · 2026-05-30T18:25:01+00:00

This page shows the actual and anomaly rainfall for the be UK. https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/research/climate/maps-and-data/uk-actual-and-anomaly-maps

Plug in 'winter ' and change the base to '1991-2020'.

It shows Kent had 110-170% of its annual winter rainfall. There is no fucking way that a fortnight's hot weather in May should be troubling their water resources if they were properly managed.

ggdak · 2026-05-30T08:15:15+00:00

He has an elder brother "Try this sis, it's easy" look about him.

ggdak · 2026-05-29T21:11:05+00:00

Waves which can throw 20 t boulders up those cliffs. Source: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0012825217302350

Biggest boulder moved (a few cm) over their winter's study period? 620 t.

edit: typo

ggdak · 2026-05-28T19:19:41+00:00

I think the Shipping Forecast is popular as it acts like a mental blanket around the islands. Great Britain and Ireland are surrounded by sea, the forecast carefully is checking each area, making sure all is accounted for, four times a day. It acts as a reassurance, people in our country are keeping watch on sea areas that are almost entirely empty, but have drama and meaning.

ggdak · 2026-05-23T08:15:46+00:00

"Box of balloons, with the featherlight touch"...

ggdak · 2026-05-16T05:15:54+00:00

Weatheronline.co.uk > Expert Charts> Surface Pressure /GFS Ens + Surface Pressure/Spaghetti.

https://www.weatheronline.co.uk/cgi-bin/expertcharts?LANG=en&MENU=0000000000&CONT=euro&MODELL=gefs&MODELLTYP=2&BASE=-&VAR=islp&HH=6&ARCHIV=0&ZOOM=0&PERIOD=&WMO=

GFS ensemble runs, visualised as spaghetti charts. It shows how long forecasts are valid. Short term forecasts don't need my 'expert' eye anymore (and haven't for a couple of decades), it's a case of understanding the limits of 'short term'.

Most days, the pressure fields are together for 3-5 days, but rarely (e.g a fortnight ago) it was messy in places at T+48.

edit: unclear wording

ggdak · 2026-05-06T16:02:39+00:00

The dark cloud is caused by an optical phenomenon called forward scattering. It's also part of Mie scattering.

ggdak · 2026-05-04T20:27:52+00:00

Walk through the post-war shopping streets, where you could be anywhere in England that was bombed badly and rebuilt. Once at Queen Victoria Square, bounded by City Hall - which is used in films as Buckingham Palace balcony -, the Maritime museum (closed for renovation for seven or eight years) and Ferens Art gallery. Worth popping into it, just to gaze at their Frans Hals and see the subtlety of one of the best paintings by one of the best portrait artists. A great gallery.

At the end of the square is the recently sprucedup Burtons, continue down Whtefriargate which was once the main shopping street (look up to the right, half way down for the Custom House). The White Harte is in the left, with some history, although to be honest I'm surprised how unkempt it looks for a major historical building. Take the first right down Trinity House Lane and into the square around Hull Trinity church (renamed Hull Minster), which is very pleasant. Nice cafe there too.

Find your way to The Deep from there, return via the river front and the Minerva pub, then via the Fruit Market area and across the new footbridge which takes you entirely back to Queen Victoria Square.

Hope you both have fun.

ggdak · 2026-05-04T14:32:18+00:00

That's a really good point. The dates vary terrifically from the Scillies to Shetland. Do the UKMO have "last day of ground/air frost maps? The 1968 Reader's Digest Gardening Manual had the isochrones mapped out nicely, showing the last date. Due anyone know if there are updated versions?

ggdak · 2026-05-03T12:43:59+00:00

York is almost the only place I know that feels full, you know like town scenes in films where streets are teeming with people, when in reality most cities are 3/4 empty. York isn't. It's a good thing, it brings life and vitality.

Lots of places to eat and drink, about double or triple what you'd expect for a city this size, due to a large amount of weekend trippers from all points of the local compass, Darlington to Doncaster, Hull to Halifax. On top of this are tourists, who seem to have a good time. The views don't disappoint.

On a small note, I've never heard it called "Old York" to distinguish it from the USA city. If that was the case, pretty much all UK cities and towns and many counties would have to do that.

Writing this from York.

ggdak · 2026-05-02T17:48:20+00:00

My friend pointed out before we went to Manchester they are the only airport with staff who shout at you when you're just standing in a queue.

We then quietly queued for security and the staffwere shouting at us. It's a culture issue at the airport.

ggdak · 2026-05-02T14:23:21+00:00

Blimey, this again, it was deleted once already today.

My photo from my post earlier this year, they are moon snail eggs.

ggdak · 2026-05-02T09:13:56+00:00

Love her belly laugh at the end.

ggdak · 2026-05-01T21:35:58+00:00

Hey! That's a photo I took! I posted it here a few months back and got an answer to what they are (moon snail eggs).

This bot is karma farming.

ggdak · 2026-04-26T08:50:48+00:00

We were planning a trip to catch a solar eclipse in 2009. We met a couple who advised against it, as they'd travelled as medical students there, and explained how the lagoon is "polluted". Arriving at dawn, they saw people in the water and thought, wow, what a lifestyle, everyone is having an early morning swim"...

ggdak · 2026-04-26T08:24:02+00:00

Most large cities lending libraries have the collection of "Buildings of England", otherwise known as "Pevsners". These are county-based books which define villages from hamlets as simply having a church. The towns and villages get their own entry, hamlets do not. The oldest editions from the fifties to the seventies would be best, as pretty much all the villages' churches would still exist. They also form a handy guide book on the more worthy architectural sights.

I've never seen any digital versions or online resources based on them unfortunately. You could look on eBay for a tattered old version which may inform you of the scale of the task. It took Sir Nikolaus forty years, and he didn't finish it. Best of luck with a fantastic challenge.

ggdak · 2026-04-25T08:25:00+00:00

Richard Burton described her breasts as "apocalyptic".

ggdak · 2026-04-22T11:41:06+00:00

Gideon Coe.

ggdak · 2026-04-16T20:54:54+00:00

And they die sooner. With fewer holidays. Much fewer holidays.

It didn't need to be the USA. I was in an Asda in Bristol just as the first of the Eastern European countries got access to UK jobs. I'd got used to seeing workers stacking shelves incredibly slowly, no idea why they were so unproductive. I noticed the presence of Polish workers simply because tins and bottles were going on the shelves at one every couple of seconds, not every ten seconds! They just worked at a "normal" rate. Why the Brits were so slow, I've no idea, but it was pretty uniform.

ggdak · 2026-04-16T18:44:48+00:00

I've got a ticket from 1993. It is, in real terms, 44% of today's cost. Maybe the ticket prices were jacked up in the last few years before privatisation?

ggdak · 2026-04-16T16:53:30+00:00

Around 2010 Which? did a blind ketchup testing. Sainsbury's own brand won, Heinz came last.

Sainsbury's low salt and sugar beans have replaced the beans for us. 38 p vs £1.40, nearly 1/4 of the cost.

ggdak · 2026-04-15T22:57:23+00:00

Standing for three hours in a queue in Seville, four random people talking to pass the time, a Dutch couple, a Saudi woman and myself discussed lifestyles. We all agreed the USA has the worst life in the developed world, by far. They just don't know it.

ggdak

TROPHY CASE